API-Less INI File Wrapper

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Introduction

Using Windows APIs to read and write (WritePrivateProfileString, GetPrivateProfileString ) INI files is easy, but if you have to get or write data on your app many times, it could cause performance issues because the functions load the INI files on each call.

So, this class will help you managing ini data on memory.

Background

This class does not use the classical INI get or put methods. It loads an INI file on initialize, uses Regular Expressions to parse data, and uses a dictionary for managing section names and data.

Regular Expressions:

static readonly Regex regRemoveEmptyLines =
    new Regex
    (
        @"(\s*;[\d\D]*?\r?\n)+|\r?\n(\s*\r?\n)*", 
        RegexOptions.Multiline | RegexOptions.Compiled
    );

static readonly Regex regParseIniData =
    new Regex
    (
        @"
        (?<IsSection>
            ^\s*\[(?<SectionName>[^\]]+)?\]\s*$
        )
        |
        (?<IsKeyValue>
            ^\s*(?<Key>[^(\s*\=\s*)]+)?\s*\=\s*(?<Value>[\d\D]*)$
        )",
        RegexOptions.Compiled | 
        RegexOptions.IgnoreCase | 
        RegexOptions.IgnorePatternWhitespace
    );

Dictionary type:

Dictionary<string, NameValueCollection> data = 
    new Dictionary<string,NameValueCollection>();

Actually, I did not search much to see if there is something like this already. I needed it and I wrote it. And, I thought that someone might find this useful.

Using the code

Initializing:

//Creates an empty ini document, you can add sections,
//keys and values dynamically. And you can save it anytime.
TA_INIDocument ini = new TA_INIDocument();

//Initializes an ini file, you can change its data and save
//it anytime
TA_INIDocument ini = new TA_INIDocument("C:\\sample.ini");

//Initializes an ini file with encoding. Sometimes ini files
//could have unicode data
TA_INIDocument ini = 
    new TA_INIDocument("C:\\sample.ini", Encoding.Unicode);

//Initializes ini data from stream
Stream iniStream;
TA_INIDocument ini = new TA_INIDocument(iniStream);

//Initializes ini data from stream with encoding
Stream iniStream;
TA_INIDocument ini =
    new TA_INIDocument(iniStream, Encoding.Unicode);

Getting and setting values:

TA_INIDocument iniDoc;

//Getting key_value collection of defined section
NameValueCollection keysAndValues = iniDoc["sectionName"];
//Getting string value of defined key and section
string value = iniDoc["sectionName"]["keyName"];
string value = iniDoc["sectionName", "keyName"];
//Setting string value of defined key
iniDoc["sectionName"]["keyName"] = "newValue";
iniDoc["sectionName", "keyName"] = "newValue";
//Getting and Setting object value of defined key and section
object value = iniDoc["sectionName", "keyName", typeof(Int32)];
iniDoc["sectionName", "keyName", typeof(Rectangle)] =
    new Rectangle(0, 0, 200, 300);
//Getting and setting specific type values excepts string
//Primitive Types (included Decimal and DateTime)
//TA_INIDocument.Get{PrimitiveTypeName}(sectionName, keyName, [defaultValue])

bool bValue = 
    iniDoc.GetBoolean("sectionName", "keyName");

bool bValue = 
    iniDoc.GetBoolean("sectionName", "keyName", true);

iniDoc.SetValue("sectionName", "keyName", bValue);

DateTime dtValue = 
    iniDoc.GetDateTime("sectionName", "keyName");

DateTime dtValue = 
    iniDoc.GetDateTime("sectionName", "keyName", DateTime.MaxValue);

iniDoc.SetValue("sectionName", "keyName", dtValue);
//Other types (required that the type has TypeConverterAttribute)
//TA_INIDocument.GetValue<T>(sectionName, keyName, [T:defaultValue])

Rectangle rtValue =
    iniDoc.GetValue<Rectangle>("sectionName", "keyName");

Rectangle rtValue =
    iniDoc.GetValue<Rectangle>("sectionName", "keyName", Rectangle.Empty);

iniDoc.SetValue("sectionName", "keyName", rtValue);

Helper functions:

//Helper Properties and Functions
TA_INIDocument iniDoc;
//Getting All Section Names
string[] sectionNames = iniDoc.SectionNames;
//Getting All Key Names of a Section
string[] keyNames = iniDoc.KeyNames("sectionName");
//Getting All Values of a Section
string[] allValues = iniDoc.SectionValues("sectionName");
//Check if section name exits
if (iniDoc.HasSection("sectionName"))
    Application.DoEvents();
//Check if key name exits of specified section
if (iniDoc.HasKey("sectionName", "keyName"))
    Application.DoEvents();

Saving all:

//Saving all data
TA_INIDocument iniDoc;
Stream iniStream;

iniDoc.Save(iniStream);
//or
iniDoc.Save(iniStream, Encoding.Unicode);
//or
iniDoc.Save("C:\\sample.ini");
//or
iniDoc.Save("C:\\sample.ini", Encoding.Unicode);

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)